By Kris Smith
Talking after Tuesday night’s 5-4 shootout loss to the Glasgow Clan that seen Stars advance to the next round of the Challenge Cup, Omar Pacha said: “I thought in the first period we actually played really well, regardless of the score line.
“We were creating offence but again we passed up shots we should have taken, three or four times we had it in the slot and decided to pass it.
“We still played a good solid period and there was one breakdown and that is a team, if you give them odd-man rushes they will capitalise.
“In the second period there was a penalty on (Jordan) Cownie that I do not know if it should have been a penalty or not and obviously they scored a powerplay goal on that.
“I thought we were a bit flat but in the last three minutes we were all over them, we capitalised on their turnover and we were putting pucks, like we did in the first period, behind them.
“It was a good end to the second and again in the third, I thought we out played them in the final period but we have to find a way to close the games out.
“In overtime we scored two goals and I do not know how they were disallowed and in the shootout, at least we got one, I guess that is a positive.
“When you are through to the next phase of the Challenge Cup in a group that is that difficult, you can see we wanted to win, you could tell the guys were pushing to win the hockey game.”
Stars put four goals past the Clan and Pacha was pleased to finally have some goals coming, he said: “I was ecstatic for Bouch (François Bouchard) and I was happy for Mags (Matt Marquardt).
“It was one of those where I thought we needed an ugly one to start and the puck went off the post and the rebound to Mags.
“Then I felt we had a boost of energy on the team, we have offensive talent and we have skill but we have to be more selfish.
“You saw on Bouch’s second goal, Cownie just threw it to the net and we got a rebound and scored.
“It is coming and it is great to see four goals tonight, that is the most happy I have been in a while offensively.
“No matter what the result is, I thought in overtime there were a few questionable calls that obviously did not go our way, where we could have won.
“In a shootout, it is luck and it just seems we are not finding it, the positives are we are through and it is a great accomplishment for this group.”
